When news broke that Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell would soon be beating each other’s heads in on a football field, comedy fans hopefully took notice. The original story was that The Other Guys co-stars would star in a Warner Bros. movie called Turkey Bowl about rival families who play a very heated game of neighborhood tackle football. Little else was revealed except that Robert Carlock and Scott Silveri would write the screenplay and that producers Ferrell and partner Adam McKay wanted it to be a huge, comedy ensemble. Curiously, the film also shared a title and plot points with a festival darling that had just been picked up.

We now know so much more. McKay, talking to Entertainment Weekly, says the title has tentatively changed to Three Mississippi (to avoid confusion with other Turkey Bowl) and will also feature Alec Baldwin, Rob Riggle and possibly Jeremy Renner. Plus, he laid out the whole plot of the movie. Read about it after the break. Read More »

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You could probably make a pretty fun movie by cutting together footage from all the different films that feature actors playing Andy Warhol — his own I’m Not There, as it might become. If you wait a few months you’d be able to add Bill Hader‘s performance, which looks, physically at least, to be pretty spot-on. This is from Men in Black III, the troubled Barry Sonnenfeld sequel starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. There has been no small amount of bad press about the film, much of it centered around the fact that no one could figure out what the movie is supposed to be, even after a big chunk had already been shot. But hey, at least Bill Hader looks pretty good as Warhol. Don’t expect his appearance in the film to add up to much more than an extended cameo, but I’ll take it. [more pics at Daily Mail via ComingSoon]

After the break, Jean Reno makes I, Alex Cross look good, and Alec Baldwin may not sing for Rock of Ages after all.

I wouldn’t generally think of Vince Vaughn as the natural replacement for a role that Justin Timberlake had dropped out of, but then again, I’m not a professional casting director. Deadline reports that Vaughn has just signed on for Stephen Frears‘ Lay the Favorite in the part of “Rosie, a Long Island bookie that [protagonist Beth] Raymer once worked for” — a role that Timberlake was attached to earlier this year. I don’t know much else about the character, but it’s easy to imagine Vaughn’s loud, charismatic, rather dickish persona being a perfect fit for a movie about Vegas gambling, don’t you think?

Based on Beth Raymer‘s memoir of the same title, Lay the Favorite follows Raymer in her journey from Vegas cocktail waitress to top professional gambler. As Raymer falls in love, she begins re-evaluating her life decisions. Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson, and Frank Grillo are also attached to star. [via The Playlist]

After the jump, Alec Baldwin and Rory Culkin sign on for Hick and The Hunger Games finds its District 9 tributes.

As Woody Allen prepares to arrive in Cannes with his latest film Midnight in Paris, he is confirming some casting reports about his next film, to be shot in Rome, which he calls “a comic picture, an out-and-out comedy.” Speaking to USA Today he offered that quote, said that reports pegging the film’s title as The Wrong Picture were, uh, wrong, and confirming that he would indeed appear in the film.

And he also confirmed Deadline‘s report that Roberto Benigni would play a part in the movie. We don’t know what that part will be, but he’ll join Penelope Cruz, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg and Alec Baldwin. Read More »

Gary Ross’ The Hunger Games isn’t the only movie that can dole out individual casting breaks on a daily basis. Adam Shankman‘s Rock of Ages — the movie version of the ‘jukebox musical’ that tells a tale of love and abition partially through the performances of anthemic ’80s tunes — seems to add a major name every other day.

The latest is Malin Akerman, who takes on the role that was originally intended for Anne Hathaway and then Amy Adams, both of whom bailed to do big comic book movies. (The Dark Knight Rises and Superman: The Man of Steel, respectively.) Can she sing? I’m not sure, but looking at the rest of the cast of the film, I’m not sure that it matters, either. Read More »

Catherine Zeta-Jones hasn’t been on screen in the past few years (her last film, Bart Freundlich’s 2009 effort The Rebound, is still seeking distribution) but she is starting to get new roles. She’ll be in Lay the Favorite with Bruce Willis, and now Adam Shankman has cast her as a new character in his film adaptation of the stage musical Rock of Ages. Read More »

Woody Allen is notoriously shy about naming his movies, typically only doing so after writing the script, and sometimes picking a name far later in the process, like when the film has been shot. He has lately been prepping a film that will shoot in Rome this year, with a cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Penelope Cruz, Ellen Page and Alec Baldwin.

Now in an interview with Le Journal du dimanche, the director appears to say the name of the film is The Wrong Picture. That could be a working title, and we’re waiting for confirmation. No plot details accompanied that revelation, but that is also standard operating procedure for the guy. What can we glean about the new film from the title? Not a whole lot at this point, but if he’s letting the name slip now expect to hear more casting soon.

After the break, the Emma Roberts Sundance film Homework gets a new title. Read More »

Briefly: While Alec Baldwin was once actively talking about retirement, we know better than to take talk like that too seriously. He says he’s done with 30 Rock after the next season, and in the meantime will shoot a part in Adam Shankman’s adaptation of the musical Rock of Ages. And now we know that he’ll be in Woody Allen‘s next film as well. At this point we don’t know too much about this particular project, other than that it will be set in Rome and also star Penélope Cruz.

Deadline says that Jesse Eisenberg is also rumored for a role, but we have no confirmation on that yet. As is typical for Woody Allen, there is no title or even basic description of the story for this film yet. But a reunion with Alec Baldwin (they last worked together on Alice over 20 years ago) is another good selling point.

Adam Shankman‘s big-screen version of the rock jukebox musical Rock of Ages has turned into quite the hot ticket. Tom Cruise plays one key character, decadent rocker Stacee Jax, and now Amy Adams is being wooed to play a journalist who intends to write a hit piece on the rock star but ends up falling for him instead. And Paul Giamatti has been added to the cast as well. Read More »